


Acts of service

by PinotPurple



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Caretaking, Conflicting Feelings, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Mutual Pining, Nostalgia, if it makes you feel better i also made myself sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 01:57:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20827490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinotPurple/pseuds/PinotPurple
Summary: Basira’s way of showing love.





	Acts of service

Daisy is in one of the offices, rumminating over a case file. Her eyebrows are furrowed and a hand is supporting her head by the forehead. Basira doesn’t worry. Her partner loves her job and she is very good at it. She loves hunting down criminals, Basira thinks, as she sets a cup of coffee next to her. Daisy looks up and thanks her with a smile. Basira feels a blush creep in her cheeks.

Daisy is driving them back to the station. They had been called to a noise complaint that turned into a cat-fight between two roommates. To Daisy’s disappointment, the conflict was solved by Basira playing judge between the girls.

It was late at night, but there were still plenty of cars. Basira glanced around, from the highway stretching in front of them, to her own reflection in the window over the darkness engulfing the field beyond the road, to Daisy, eyes forward and steering the wheel. The highway streetlights cast a yellow light every few seconds, passing over their car like a scanner. They’d illuminate Daisy, reflect in her eyes, contour the shape of her cheeks, her nose, her brows, of her lips.

The radio was on, playing a song. Basira turned it up when it started. She had been listening to it on repeat more than she’d like to admit. Everyone else was doing it since it came out. Top 10 songs are there for a reason. The bop was soon over and radio host resumed telling the news.

"Hey.” Basira said after hesitating for a bit. “We can put on the Archers if you’d like.”

"It’s alright.” Daisy said. “I know you don’t like it.”

"N-No! It’s fine!” She had already listened second-hand to it and unwillingly learned the plot.

Daisy took her eyes of the road to smile at Basira and reach for the radio.

Daisy is in the locker-room, together with Basira. They are changing their clothes and putting their things away in silence. Basira was trying not to shake, not just from the cold air. She kept replaying in her mind the call they just answered. She kept thinking about that suicide victim. He wouldn’t die, no matter how much he tried. The scene made her nauseous and thinking about it made her shiver.

She glanced at Daisy. She closing her locker. Her brows were furrowed. She had been working longer than Basira, she was hardenned. But it was too quiet.

"Wanna go for drinks? I’ll pay.” Basira said.

Daisy looked at her surprised. She had been deep in thought and suddenky woken up. Basira was about to repeat herself when the first question registered and Daisy agreed.

Daisy is driving them to a homicide scene. The victim called 999 as he bled out and the culprit was now fighting with the police. The station is giving them details on a very staticky voice. Daisy is driving as fast as she could. Basira kept her balance and braced herself for what was to come.

"You punch them, I cuff them.” Basira suggested and Daisy grinned. Her teeth looked sharp.

Daisy is at the bar, together with Basira and everyone else. Everyone got drunk and shenanigans ensued. Basira laughed so hard her sides hurt. She caught her breath and wiped tears away as she turned to Daisy. Daisy sat with her cheek in her palm, face red, smiling and looking at her.

"What?” Basira asked after a moment.

"Nuthin’.” Daisy said, taking another sip.

Daisy is in the lockerrooms, fixing a bandage that slid off as she removed her shirt. She had to use her non-dominant hand and supplemented the other one with her teeth. Basira’s heart skipped a beat, until she saw the wound. It was large, in the shape of a claw-mark. Basira tried not to think about what could have caused it.

"Here, I’ll help.” She said.

"You don’t have to.” Daisy said, having went to the back of the lockerrooms specifically so Basira wouldn’t see it. Basira already picked the gauze and wrapped it tight. 

She gave it a little victorious tap with her palm as she looked back up. She was nose to nose with Daisy.

They sat very still for a moment, looking at each-other’s eyes, until Basira turned away and so did Daisy. Her face was on fire. She glanced back and Daisy was quickly putting on her jacket, cheeks a deep red.

Daisy drives them to the Magnus Institute. She is in a very bad mood. She hated that place. Basira couldn’t blame her. Her grumbles were low and slurred, almost like a snarl.

"Drinks are on me when this is done.” Basira said, in hopes of cheering her up. Daisy smiled.

Daisy is in the lockerroom, putting away her things. She looks at the bench and sees Basira still in her uniform, staring at the ground. Her breathing was mechanical and controlled, but would still come out shaky.

Daisy sat next to her and wrapped her arms around her. The action broke a dam. Basira clutched to her as she cried. Daisy soothed her as well as she could. She had lost colleagues before and knew how painful and sudden it could be. It didn’t help that the circumstances it took place in were spooky shit.

Basira calmed down and pulled away. She sniffled as she looked down between them.

"Daisy, you’ll be cold in that. Take my coat.” She whimpered.

Daisy couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Wow! Even now?” She said and Basira smiled weakly.

Daisy is trying to calm her down, putting her hands on her shoulders. Basira wasn’t having it.

"They’re _covering it up_, Daisy!” She repeated, tears of anger and frustration staining her cheeks. “They would do it if it were _you_! If it were _me_!”

"Basira, please...”

"No! I’ve had enough! I’m _quitting_!”

Daisy took her hands away. It was very quiet for a moment as Basira panted and Daisy tried to think of something, both looking at the ground.

“You should quit too.” Basira said, raising her eyes to the bandages Daisy was trying to hide with her shirt’s sleeves. “Let’s leave here.” She offered.

"Basira...”

"You and me. Together.”

This wasn’t about just the cover up, was it?

Daisy stayed silent. Her cheeks looked puffier from her teeth being larger and sharper. The hands she fiddled with had sharp nails. She was tall and strong and had an intimidating, angular face that was now twisted in sadness, worry and indecision. Or rather knowing that Basira won’t like the decision she will make.

Basira sighed deeply, wiped her tears and left.

Daisy is waiting for her outside the institute. The confrontation with Elias took an unexpected turn, huh? Basira looked at her. Her brows were furrowed and her jaw was tense. She looked like she wanted to cry.

Basira took her hand in her own.

"Drinks are on me.” She said.

Daisy walks in her room in the dead of the night. They were going to stop the Unknowing in a few hours. She wordlessly walked up to Basira’s bed and crawled under the sheets. She hugged her tight, hiding her head in her chest. Basira hugged her back, petting her hair. It was a little greasy. Basira promised her a bubble bath once it was over.

Daisy walks to the car. Her eyes were ferocious, she was tense but determined. She was deep in thought, running the plan through her mind, preparing herself.

"I’ll drive.” Badira decided and the others followed.

Daisy is gone. So is Tim. Jon is nearly dead, but kept alive by that stupid god of his._ Why didn’t Daisy’s do the same for her after everything she did, huh?!_

Basira sat in the archives, reading book after book to distract herself. It didn’t work. She’d go to the bar with Martin or Melanie, or both. She still felt alone.

Daisy is in the coffin. That damned deliveryman brought it. She was alive in it. Trapped, but alive.

Basira sat on the floor next to it. She felt tempted to open it, but she didn’t.

"Daisy?” She tried. “Can you hear me?”

No answer. Of course not.

"I’ll be going on a trip in a few minutes.” Basira continued. “I’ll be leaving you with Jon and Melanie. Hopefully he doesn’t do anything stupid.” She sighed. “We’ll get you out. I’ll find a way. _I’ll get you out_.”

Basira put her hand on the coffin. A moment later there was a stratching sound, then a feeling, beneath the wood, beneath where she placed her palm. Basira gasped and felt goosebumps all over. But she didn’t move her hand away. What if that was Daisy? She stayed with the coffin until it was time for her flight.

Daisy is on the floor next to the coffin and Jon and the tapes. She was caked from head to toe in dirt, she was terribly thin and she was smiling up at Basira, whose ire for Jon was immediatly put out.

"Hey.” She said. Daisy barely escaped the Buried and she got crushed again by Basira’s hug.

Daisy is undressed and seated in the basin of the make-shift shower they put up in the archives’ restroom. That was their home, for the time being. Basira soaked a washcloth in water and soap abd she began scrubbing, revealed the Daisy she knew from under the grime.

Or what was left of her.

She was very thin. Except for her face, she looked like a different person. Basira traced the visible bumps of her spine, let water run between her shoulder-blades, rubbed the once powerful shoulders. She tried not to cry. She heard Daisy exhale through her nose. She needn’t see her to know she was smiling.

”You kept your promise.” Daisy said, resting her chin on her knees.

Daisy is in phisiotherapy. It was hard and frustrating, but she was making progress. Basira hooked their arms together and try to walk. Daisy’s legs would give out quickly and she’d lean against Basira. Basira couldn’t possibly mind it, but it saddened her. Daisy was back, but, at the same time, not really. Not fully.

Daisy looked at the cup of warm tea she was given with furrowed brows.

"Ny Alesund...” She repeated.

“Hopefully, Jon is powerful enough by now.” Basira said with a dismissive tone. "They should also be much weaker during the day."

She made to leave her side, when Daisy took her hand. She looked her in the eyes.

"Stay safe.” Daisy said.

"I will.” Basira said.

Daisy is the first to greet them when they returned through Helen’s door. That night, in hushed voices, Daisy told her what happened with Martin and Basira told her about Jon. Both of them groaned in frustration and resumed cuddling. Basira offered a massage, and Daisy told her phisiotherapist was already making her feel like she had been hit by a truck. Basira pretended to punch her in the shoulder. Even the tap hurt.

Daisy comes to her, holding an electric razor. She always kept her hair short and after everything it was almost touching her shoulders. Cutting her hair would make her feel a little better. Basira immediatly accepted.

They went to the bathroom, where Daisy sat on a chair with a towel over her shoulders. Basira touched Daisy's hair, putting her fingers through it, stroking her head, before cutting off the bulk of it with sccisors, throwing it in a bin, and turning on the razor. The buzz was loud enough to mute Basira's thoughts. It glided smoothly, revealing the pale scalp under a layer of spiky fuzz. Her undercut was messed up and barely visible. Basira felt hit by a wave of sadness.

Trevor Herbert and Julia Montauk came to kill Jon. Jon called Daisy to save him. And now Jon is telling Basira that Daisy is thin, Daisy is weakened. Did he _seriously_ not notice _until now_? Did he really think Basira of all people didn't notice? _She_ didn't notice how weak Daisy got? How skinny she got, how she struggled? How, since she escaped the Buried, she only got worse and worse? Basira hated Jon more and more, especially after pointing this out. Daisy needed to hunt. Not doing it was killing her. Hunting was what got her in this mess in the first place, like a cruel domino effect of the universe. It was only going to get worse. Daisy might actually die. She has to hunt. It would make her go back to her old self. The strong and brave and impulsive Daisy. The Daisy that could defend herself. The Daisy that didn't feel dizzy from standing up. The Daisy that could eat without feeling sick, like no food was good anymore. She has to hunt. She had to get out of this mess.

Basira looked at the mirror and saw Daisy looking at her through the reflection. She was smiling at her. Basira smiled back.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! <3  



End file.
